Metgasco Ltd (ASX:MEL) announced a 13% increase in gas production following the completion of debottlenecking operations at its Southern Flank gas project (ATP2021 & PRL211). The raw gas production reached 3.6 million standard cubic feet per day (MMscfd) as of 6 am today, up from 3.2 MMscfd before the operations began. This initiative, executed by joint venture operator Vintage Energy Ltd (50%), with Metgasco holding a 25% stake and Bridgeport Cooper Basin Pty Ltd the remaining 25%, has reduced back-pressure, leading to the higher production rates. The reduced backpressure is expected to enable a greater volume of gas to be ultimately recovered per well.
In February, Metgasco initiated scale inhibitor injection at the Odin-1 well to address scale accumulation issues previously affecting the multi-phase flowmeter. The injection and cleaning processes have been successful in stabilizing production rates from Odin-1 and mitigating the interference caused by scale accumulation. This intervention has restored accurate metering capabilities.
Metgasco Managing Director Ken Aitken expressed satisfaction with the production increase, noting that the debottlenecking work, combined with stable production rates from Odin-1 and strong plant uptime performance in CY25, represents a positive start to the year. The joint venture is currently finalizing plans for a production uplift/optimization program slated for Q2 CY25, pending JV approval. This program aims to further enhance field gas production performance.
